Turning COBOL programmers into web developers

Back in 1997, Gartner estimated that 80% of the world’s businesses ran on COBOL. These days, the numbers are a little more uncertain. Some say that number is down to 70%. I’ve also seen surveys that put it right around 62%. Regardless of the figures, one thing is clear: COBOL is still widely used in many businesses.

However, many of these businesses find themselves in a tough situation. They have their COBOL programmers on staff to maintain their current apps. But, they don’t have the skills necessary to build modern web apps, and can’t afford to bring in new employees.

What should they do? For many companies, that’s the end of the story. They’re stuck. They think, “We don’t have the skills and we can’t afford to hire new employees, so what else can we do?” Others have to pay twice – keeping their current employees on staff to support existing applications and hiring new ones for web development.

If either situation sounds like you, then I have a great story for you to read. Here’s a story about an IT department that needed web apps, but lacked the skills necessary to complete their projects. What did they do? They found a tool that let their COBOL programmers develop web applications. Instead of hiring new employees, or bringing in outside consultants, they figured out a way to move forward using their current staff. You can read the whole story here.